nam 22 uu 4500 10.59704/8076c3ff55f10452 DE-Verfassungsblog cr||||| 240402s2024||||xx#|||||o|||| ||| 0|eng|| 10.59704/8076c3ff55f10452 doi eng 342 23 Zirulia, Stefano Author aut Refoulement As A Crime - Insights from the Asso28 Push-Back Case Zirulia, Stefano Verfassungsblog 2024-04-02 Text txt rdacontent Computermedien c rdamedia Online-Ressource cr rdacarrier Last month, the Italian Court of Cassation upheld the (suspended) sentence of one year’s imprisonment of the shipmaster of the Italian ship Asso28. He was convicted of two offences of abandonment for returning and handing around 100 migrants over to the personnel of a Libyan patrol boat, including some unaccompanied minors and pregnant women, whom he had previously rescued in international waters within the Libyan SAR zone. The case constitutes the first time an individual was held criminally responsible for failing to fulfil the duty of non-refoulement. Until recently, the refoulement duty has only served to exclude the liability of shipmasters who had complied with it whenever they were accused of facilitating irregular immigration. This case indicates the emergence of a new function of the principle, namely that of grounding the criminal liability of those who violate it. CC BY-SA 4.0 Criminal Law crimmigration Italy Libya Non Refoulement pushbacks solidarity offense Max Steinbeis Verfassungsblog gGmbH Verfassungsblog 2366-7044 https://verfassungsblog.de/refoulement-as-a-crime/ raw object